The Samsung Galaxy S5 was officially launched last Friday, but not everyone is able to get the device just yet. Ting Wireless, a Sprint MVNO, won’t be able to offer the device until after Sprint has, but today they started taking pre-orders for the device. These orders are set to ship in May.

The Galaxy S5 is being sold by Ting for $597, which is lower than the full retail price being offered by AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile. Ting offers low monthly rates to its customers, but because of this they cannot offer subsidized phones.

Ting is one of the newer MNVOs in the market, backed by Sprint’s network and offering rate plans that only charge you for what you use. They first opened shop two years ago, and in celebration of making it this far they’re permanently dropping prices on their rate plans.

Most of the price slashing came on the high end of Ting’s plans, especially in the data packages. Using between 100 and 500 megabytes of data will now cost a dollar less per month, but using between 500 and 1000 costs five dollars less. Even better, using between 1 GB and 2 GB of data has been shaved down thirteen dollars, which is a pretty substantial markdown. On top of those rate changes, once you’ve reached the 2 GB cap, you’ll only be charged 1.5 cents per megabytes as opposed to the previous rate of 2.25 cents per megabyte. This change also applies to minutes, which received a 0.1 cent reduction. To complement this rate change, the top XXL tier of minutes, messages, and data has been removed entirely, which you can see in the chart above.

These new plans take effect immediately for both new and existing customers, and they definitely look more attractive if you’re a heavy data user. Anybody on Ting happy to see these new prices?

If you’re an early adopter of the Nexus 5, you might be interested to know that you can use the device on Ting, an MNVO that uses Sprint’s network. All you’ll need to do is order a SIM card from Ting (or get one from somewhere else if you can) then head over to their support forums to get your Nexus activated.

Unfortunately, the SIM cards are on backorder, and we won’t even get started on the shipping dates of the Nexus 5 itself, but if you plan on shopping around prepaid carriers in the near future, keep Ting in mind.

Ting, a MVNO (Mobile Vitural Network Operator) running on Sprint’s network, is now offering the Samsung Galaxy S III for pre-order. You will have a choice of either Marble White or Pebble Blue and as this is prepaid, (no discounted handsets) the device will cost $529 (16GB) or $579 (32GB).

One drawback: you have to wait 3-6 weeks for your shiny new phone to ship. The good news is, for those who live in a Sprint LTE market, you’ll be able to browse the web at stunning LTE speeds! We have yet to confirm the official specs; Ting says their version will have only 1GB of RAM Vs. 2GB on other variants. Either this is a method to cut costs, or there was an error–hopefully the latter.

The Samsung Galaxy S III has been available for quite some time and is selling at record numbers, leading to Samsung destroying their shipment record in quarter two of this year. Widespread ability, and specs that leave nothing to desire are likely the main cause of its popularity. I know if I wasn’t packing a Galaxy Nexus, I would definitely pick one up! Are you on the Ting network? Let us know if you plan on picking up this powerful beast! Hit the break for the full press release.

The great thing about today’s technology is the ability to choose from a variety of mobile carriers to best suit our needs. That means some of you can choose Verizon Wireless for example because of great nationwide coverage and the solid 4G LTE speeds. Others choose AT&T because of the ever-improving 4G LTE network or great selection of mobile devices. The rest choose networks like Sprint and T-Mobile because of their great all-everything value which is price-conscious for consumers. Keep in mind I didn’t mention regional carriers like U.S. Cellular or Cincinnati Bell, which also give great value for customers (albeit at the cost for great coverage in one region of a country, but lackluster coverage elsewhere).

While there’s a great abundance of mobile providers to suit our needs, there’s a growing sense of frustration and anger at the mobile carriers because of the idea that they are not focusing on great customer service, but rather focused on consolidating features— while increasing the overall costs for the consumers. Unfortunately, consumers in this day and age feel as if they are at the mercy of these providers, so they lock themselves into 2-year contracts and can potentially pay thousands of dollars for cellphone service. The effect you see from this is two fold: 1) By locking themselves into a commitment, customers are stuck with devices that often lose support from not only the cellphone carrier, but the manufacturer as well. 2) The average customer doesn’t come even close to using their max totals allowed in their cell plans (an example is using just 40 minutes out of 400 anytime minutes or 1GB of data out of 2GB in a billing month), so they waste precious dollars. It certainly isn’t far-fetched to believe consumers are being taken advantage of by the big companies, especially in these trying times of economic recession and recovery worldwide. Naturally, there are plenty of individuals who have had enough of contracts completely and not have not only gone the prepaid route, but are completely satisfied by the decision. For this reason, I believe it’s necessary for not just Android users— but any smartphone user to at least understand why prepaid mobile service may not be such a bad thing. Read more